Professor Gwen Roseman Stern and student Phil Pasquarello have co-authored a casebook with attorney Andrew J. Stern, “Avila v. Nita City Hospital.”

The casebook, published by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that is a national leader in providing legal advocacy skills training.

The book gives attorneys insights about how to handle a hypothetical medical malpractice scenario involving a delayed diagnosis of bacterial meningitis in a child who is rendered deaf. The scenario was inspired by a real-life case tried by Andrew Stern as lead counsel, a partner at Kline & Specter who has won numerous record-setting verdicts and settlements on his clients’ behalf, including his substantial involvement in a $227 million record settlement against the Salvation Army and other parties that followed a liability verdict stemming from the tragic Market Street building collapse in Center City Philadelphia.

NITA recruited Gwen Stern, who directs the Trial Advocacy program and has served as a faculty member and team leader for NITA trainings to produce the casebook.

“They asked me to create a medical malpractice file, rich with vocational experts, economic experts, liability experts on meningitis, emergency room experts and infectious disease experts,” Gwen Stern said, adding that such a case can stretch even experienced litigators.

She said Pasquarello’s contributions to the book were enormous, only in part because of insights he brought from extensive experience on the law school’s Trial Team.

“He was able to help us create a balanced file that both plaintiffs’ lawyers and defense counsel could try fairly,” she said, noting that he has an uncanny ability to spot federal rules of evidence that will likely come into play.

She said Pasquarello is “a phenom” who has a preternatural skill with storytelling.